Investing

Wall Street used to be a tough environment to break into. The good schools would feed their top students into the best investment banks and then the boroughs around Manhattan would feed hungry traders into the pit of the stock exchange, where the cream would be seperated from the crop. The same thing happened on the floors of the Chicago Mercantile exchange, where locals could get in and get started a career, but the barriers to entry could be extreme.

Then the digital revolution changed everything. Just like other industries, trading got democratized. With all the websites and platforms out there, online trading is open to everyone. A kid from Duluth, Minnesota. A retired school teacher in Portland, Maine. A mid-career systems engineer in Denver, Colorado who just wants to make some extra money.

Before that, you needed to invest through a stockbroker. The trade was made by the brokerage firm, which controlled the access to trading floors. Not anymore.

What is online trading? Financial markets are available for people to join and risk their money. The markets are much more accessible than they ever were. If you have a computer and some extra money, you can join in on the fun. But it is not some venture that you should take lightly. You need to be well aware of the risks that come with trading stocks or futures or options online. And you need to be ready to lose whatever money you trade.

When you enter the working world and you are faced with trying to support yourself, you are going to deal with tough choices. You will have limited resources and you need to figure out how to allocate those resources. That part of growing up will lead you to question almost anything that you are doing. Your job, your method of saving money, the way that the financial world works.

The best thing to do is to learn how to take control of your money. And you can do that with online trading. When you work for a wage, you want to save as much of that money as possible. Then you can get on an online platform such as CMC Markets or TD Ameritrade and teach yourself how to trade for profits. You can start simply with stocks and bonds, where you research companies and corporations and actually buy the asset and look for the price to go up. That is the basics of trading a security. Buy low and sell high.

That applies to all sorts of online trading. Even when you are looking at binary options, spread betting, CFDs, futures contracts, forex trading and commodities, to name just a few. You want to be able to buy at a low price and sell at a better price.

Then you can get a little more creative. That is where you are speculating on the price of a particular financial instrument, but you don’t own the underlying asset. That occurs in forex, spread betting, really any kind of derivative trading. In that scenario, you profit from the price going up or the price going down. It all depends in how you secure your position. For example, with binary options, if you see the price of stock or an index going down, based on your research and knowledge of the market, you can place that bet with a broker and get paid out if you are right. You are risking money, but you are not risking holding a worthless asset.

When you begin to trade penny stocks, the world is just starting to open up for you. Day trading can seem like a slog, but when you get the know-how, energy and discipline to being trading small-cap stocks you can make a real dent in your financial woes. Even if you are in debt or just a low net-worth individual, frequenting a day trading education site and learning the top strategies for finding and profiting off penny stocks can be the answer to your money prayers.

It does take dedication though. The amount of time that is needed in order to become a great and profitable day trader is often underestimated by those who are starting out. It is a well known fact that less than 10% of day traders actually make money. That means that 90% of the day traders out there are losing money. They are the marks. And they got to be marks because they refused to put in the time to really learn how to trade penny stocks.

Penny stocks are commonly thought of as companies whose shares trade on the open market for less than a dollar. Meaning that they only cost pennies. But, for day trading purposes, you can think of penny stocks as any stock that trades between $2 and $10 per share. These small-cap stocks are ideal for people that want to see volatility in the market and capitalize on it.

Day traders are all about volatility. There are no day profits in watching a security steadily gain in market share. Watching stocks go up and down are a great way to begin to understand trends in the market. That is the start of your day trading education. While you watch the market, it makes sense to join up with a day trading education site that will offer online video classes, teaching you the strategies that are needed to profit from these trends.

When you look to trade penny stocks, one of the most important parts is being able to identify these stocks in real time. Being able to find stocks that are going to spike up is one thing. Then being able to make the right trade at the right time is another. It takes time to learn the feel for that sort of thing. That is why time spent in chat rooms with other veteran traders is so valuable. And then taking the time to start paper trading before you risk real money is vital.

Paper trading is where you take virtual currency and you trade it in a simulated environment meant to mimic the regular trade market. That practice is vital in order to be able to intuit trends and find your way from novice status to being an excellent day trader. And it allows you to make mistakes that will not kill your bottom line at the end of the day.

Day trading education sites are where you can really make a dent in your financial troubles. That is how to start the journey to being a great and worthy day trader.

You might think that you need to be a millionaire or an international property developer to invest in luxury real estate. Well, you would be wrong.

Before we go any further, this article is not pitching a get rich quick scheme. Instead, it will outline some simple strategies that the average person on the street can invest in real estate. Keep in mind, these strategies might not be for everyone and if you have a hard time controlling your finances then the you might want to read this article on how to simplify your home budget.

Now that we have that out of the way, let me explain why you might want to consider investing in luxury real estate. For starters, it is a hard asset and one that is usually well-positioned to withstand an economic reversal.

Second, the legion of the world’s richest is continually growing. I know it might not feel that way when you drop your kids off at school but you never know which one of those parents is a successful business person or investor.

That being said, there are five important things that you need to know about investing in something like luxury condos. Ok, maybe a sixth, as a small piece of advice is that just not all luxury properties cost $1 million. In fact, many properties are considered ‘luxury’ due to their location or some other characteristic which helps it to stand out from the crowd.

Find & Flip

Now, this approach does require some work – both research potential properties and to get them ready for resale. But you want to know a secret, even ‘rich’ people run into problems with money every now and then. When that happens, many will choose what is known as a strategic default and this opens the opportunity to buy what would normally be an expensive property on the cheap.

However, there is a lot of skill to this approach and if you are considering getting into the flipping game, then you will want to take some time to study the market and to build up your contacts. This could include connections in the property tax office, local banks, and even with the contractors who will help you to get a market ready for resale.

In addition, you should be willing to do much of the dirty work yourself as this will reduce how much money you will need to invest in a property – leading to more profit for you.

Consider Condos

For starters, condos are smaller than homes, so if you find the right property it will probably cost to prep for resale than a home. Also, these condos tend to be in well-managed buildings in prime locations and this will and tens of thousands to the sale price. Another item to consider is that these buildings generally tend to have many services for their tenants including gyms, restaurants, even a dry cleaner all on site.

A final thought about condos, all the work will be inside. This means you don’t need to worry about expensive roofing projects or landscape gardening. Not only does this reduce the time needed to prep a property but it also means that it is easier for you to scope out the work that will need to be done.

The Grass IS Always Greener

Let me explain. We live in a global world and there is no law that you can only invest in luxury properties in your hometown or even your own country. In fact, investment in an exotic location might have a lower upfront cost than anything you can find closer to home.

There are several things that you will need to consider. First, is whether the country you have targeted allows foreign property investment. You see some emerging markets restrict the right of foreigners to own property. As such, you don’t want to make the mistake of investing in a country where you will need a dodgy, and complicated, legal structure own a property.

The second thing that you will need to consider is how you can find, and repair, the property you have in mind. Fortunately, the internet can help with targeting but construction being what it is, you will need to find a way to be on site during the renovation phase. If not, the costs will sky rocket and your project will never be completed.

Find a Partner

Maybe you have a friend who is already investing in real estate, or maybe it is known developer with a track record of success. Either way, there are plenty of ways to invest in real estate without owning the entire property, and I am not talking about timeshares either.

Buy & Upgrade

‘Luxury’ has less to do with the property’s cost and more to do with the amenities and the location. As such, you can look for opportunities to buy and upgrade a property. Who knows you might be able to sell it or you could let it out on Airbnb or similar sites.